Zcash prepares for NU7 network upgrade on November 5

Zcash is scheduled to activate its Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) around November 5, expected at block 3,543,405. The upgrade, outlined in ZIP 218, will reduce the target time between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. This change aims to decrease wait times for transaction confirmations at points of sale, exchanges, and cross-chain bridges.

NU7 also introduces a new fee mechanism where 60% of transaction fees are temporarily removed from circulation to fund future block rewards, while miners retain the remaining 40%. Users should note that Version 4 transactions will become invalid upon activation, and ZEC remaining in the original Sprout shielded pool will become unspendable.

To support the transition, the Zcash Foundation has released Zebra 7.0.0, the first stable node software for the upgrade. This release includes seven security fixes, addressing high-severity vulnerabilities related to synchronization, checkpoint verification, and transaction validation that could otherwise cause node crashes or hinder peer verification.